Now is the time ....... To Love

Owe nothing to anyone – except for your obligation to love one another.
Romans 13:8

So many songs have been written about love over the years; some disappear, others remain. Many are ‘throw away’ lines, some of the lyrics contain truth. A couple of lines immediately spring to mind – ‘love makes the world go round’ and ‘all you really need is love’. Both are true in a way but perhaps not as the songwriter meant them to be.

Love does indeed make the world go round because God is love and he holds everything in his hand. Scripture says ‘For of him and through him and to him are all things.’ (Romans 11:36) and also ‘…by him all things are held together’ (Colossians 1:17). He (Love) is the creator and sustainer of the universe (John 1:3).

Also it is true that ‘all you really need is love’. We were created to love and to be loved by Love Himself, God. Our need to be loved is inbuilt and we are fashioned in the likeness of God so our nature is to be a vessel through which God’s love flows to others.

I found the New Living Translation rendering of Romans 13:8 interesting in that it says that we have an obligation to love one another. Why would loving one another be our obligation? Because it goes on to say ‘love fulfils the requirements of God’s law.’ God so loved us that he gave his only Son to become the fulfilment of the law which judged us. Jesus so loved that he gave his life for us. Our ‘obligation’, if we are to be Jesus to this world, is to love with that same love – God’s love - which he puts in our heart as we yield to him, (Romans 5:5).

Human love grasps for itself, to satisfy its own needs. It can manipulate, intimidate and control to get its needs fulfilled. On the other hand God’s love is given to us unconditionally, unearned. It is supernaturally ‘generated’ by the spirit of God and it is available to each of us – not only for ourselves but also for us to pass on to others and so fulfil God’s purposes on this earth.

How will you choose to love this Christmas season? Take a moment to stop and ask your loving Heavenly Father how He wants you to show His love to others during this time when we remember how He so lovingly gave us the most precious gift He could think of.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, God of love, please show me how I can share your love with someone in need of love today. Amen